Britney Spears - Biopolar Or Bpd?

[icu_baby]

BPD for sure in my book, thought it for months.

Hi Nicky, I agree but why do you think she is BPD...for bipolar II doesn't your hypomania need to last for > 4 days with depression lasting longer whereas for according to the DSM-IV "individuals with BPD display display effective instabiity that is due to a marked reactivity of mood (intense episodic sysphoria, irritability, or anxiety lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days (Criterion 6). Britany spears seems to go up and down quite quickly like a borderine.

Note that reckless driving is also an example given in the DSM-IV under Criterion 4 for BPD "impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (eg spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating".

Alot of people mentioned that her behaviour is due to substance abuse but substance abuse can be regarded legitimately as as part of the criteria.

Also according to the criteria 2 of the DSM "individuals with BPD have a patter of unstable and intense relationships, they may idealize potential caregivers or lovers at the first or second meeting , demand to spend alot of time with together, and share the most intimate details early in a relationship. However, they may switch quickly from idealizing other people to devaluing them..." We saw this behaviour in the way she quickly became close to that paparazzi guy and brought him over to the court case hearing regarding her kids and then dumped him a few weeks later.

I read in some journal article that psychiatrists in America are reluctant to diagnose people with BPD and would prefer biploar II. This is because insurance companies don't cover psychiatric treatment for BPD and they do for Bipolar.

There have been mentions that britanys problems stem from her childhood upbringing but don't forget BPD is a complex disorder and is a mixture of genes/ our biology and the environment we grew up in (according to the DBT consultant I spoke too).

Also bipolar is VIEWED AS TREATABLE - as Britneys psychiatist has said, its a treatable illness whereas according to the team leader who spoke to me about DBT which I start in 6 months (If I am still alive..jokes) that BPD is much more complex and MUCH HARDER TO TREAT than Bipolar. This is why bipolar I is seen as an axis 1 disorder and BPD is put as an axis II disorder. However this view is changing and hopefully in the next addition of the DSM it will be put as an axis 1 disorder.

[kismet]

whether drug related or bpd she will get all the help she needs because of her celebrity status and her money, lets just hope she accepts the help before its to late.

can guarantee no long waiting lists for her.

just hope she grabs on with both hands to the help offered. my prayers go out to her and everyone who needs help tonight.

[Kay]

personally I think she is a very lonely desperate person that needs some good help. For herself and her kids. I feel sorry for the woman.

[Marchmadness]

Why does she have to have any DX? I mean look at her, from the time

she was a kid, in the spot light. Her life is looked at from a microscope,

think about the stress, lack of childhood, privacy, the world being thrown

at her - anything that she could possible want given to her. A child growing

up in an adult world with no boundaries.

I ask you.................would you be able to handle all of that?

March

[Warrior Princess]

Why does she have to have any DX? I mean look at her, from the time

she was a kid, in the spot light. Her life is looked at from a microscope,

think about the stress, lack of childhood, privacy, the world being thrown

at her - anything that she could possible want given to her. A child growing

up in an adult world with no boundaries.

I ask you.................would you be able to handle all of that?

March

Then again there are others like Dannii Minogue that seems to have handled it just fine. We are all individuals.

PW.

[kib0ne]

Oops she did it again!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=374051

Hope she gets the help she needs.

Note the wreckless driving comment.

PW.

haha Pain Warrior I am in Australia too! Yes I saw the news on channel 9.

Her psychiatrist put her in hospital because she was a danger to herself because of her reckless driving and her deteriorating condition. That sets a very low threshold for what makes a person a "danger to themselves and others". I have done much worse things to myself - like put myself in a coma for 3 days and on life support without being admitted into a psychiatric hospital. I am not complaining that I was not involuntarily detained but I didn't get the follow up support that I so badly needed which lead to my major relapse oinly 6 weeks later. I did get the crises team come to my house the next day but I had to arrange for my own psychiatrist/psychologist and I couldn't find one that I could make an appointment with. The thing that upsets me the most is when I called up the mental health team to ask them for a referal somewhere they said that I was no longer a client and that they their duty involved a 10min follow up call afterwards.

Do you think that if I was diagnosed with bipolar instead of bpd I would have been treated the same way. I think this is a serious issue which should be addressed?

icu_baby

Don't forget she has uber money, and personally I don't think it does set a low threshold; I think anyone who's been involved in a serious RTA would testify to that. But here people are given custodial sentences by the courts for reckless driving on the grounds that they could seriously harm other people, so wouldn't it make sense to be hospitalised around it, be certified mad, before the judiciary system have a chance to get their hands on you?

[kib0ne]

Why does she have to have any DX? I mean look at her, from the time

she was a kid, in the spot light. Her life is looked at from a microscope,

think about the stress, lack of childhood, privacy, the world being thrown

at her - anything that she could possible want given to her. A child growing

up in an adult world with no boundaries.

I ask you.................would you be able to handle all of that?

March

Good point, and we don't know what else has been in the mix either. I know other celebs seem to have managed fine, but I bet there's a good few of those that have just managed to keep their downfalls from the media and hey yeah like PW says we're individuals.

I watched a documentary recently about pain and a doctor was saying how he's seen people with the same injury vomiting from the pain and sitting up talking, and I think mental distress can be a lot like that also.

I want to form my own Brit Brit cheer team now.

[Life is sweet]

I don't care as much about the diagnosis--although that is important for HER OWN recovery--as much as I just hope she can get the help, care and support she needs. And, hopefully help her sister see some of the troubles she has overcome.

[kib0ne]

She needs to get better so people stop comparing me to her!!!!!

[pain-dance]

I thought this topic was interesting. Britney spears has been admitted into psychiatric care again and there are reports that she is suffering from Bipolar disorder. According to one website:

"Last year Britney Spears shaved her head, attacked paparazzi photographers, broke traffic rules and appeared in public with no underwear on. However, many people believe that she would be able to retrieve her earthly manners if she could see her two sons. About 51 percent of the polled said that they Britney could still recover from her current deplorable state.

Psychologists say that the troubled singer may die in about six months if she does not improve her mental condition. Britney was going to address to Doctor Lillian Glass, a top US psychologist. "Unless Britney is locked away or put into a treatment program, she is going to die in six months - or even sooner. In my opinion, she suffers from cyclothymia, a chronic mood disorder in which short periods of mild depression are followed by short periods of hypomania. That explains why one minute she can appear perfectly sane and the next she's exhibiting totally crazy behaviour,” the doctor said.

Cyclothymia is a mood disorder. This disorder is a milder form of bipolar II disorder consisting of recurrent mood disturbances between hypomania and dysthymic mood. A single episode of hypomania is sufficient to diagnose cyclothymic disorder; however, most individuals also have dysthymic periods. The diagnosis of cyclothymic disorder is never made when there is a history of mania or major depressive episode or mixed episode (as told in "Blueprints in Psychiatry" - "mood disorders"). The lifetime prevalence of cyclothymic disorder is 0.4-1%. The rate appears equal in men or women, though women more often seek treatment."

I don't know, I also think that she has BPD but maybe because of the stigma assoicated with BPD has resulted in the psychologist giving her a possible diagnosis of Cyclothymia

What do you guys think?

The DSM-IV criteria in which you must have 5 of the 9 to meet the diagnosis of BPD

A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and

marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated

by five (or more) of the following:

1. frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. Note: Do not include suicidal or

self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.

2. a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating

between extremes of idealization and devaluation

3. identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self

4. impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex,

substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating

behavior covered in Criterion 5.

5. recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior

6. affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria,

irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)

7. chronic feelings of emptiness

8. inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper,

constant anger, recurrent physical fights)

9. transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

I think Britney spears meets 8, 4, 9, 2 and 3.

ps - I have no qualifications in psychology/psychiatry whatsoever so this is only my amature speculation based on her behaviour on what is reported in the media.

If she did have BPD though, I think that in a way it would be good in the sense that she can bring excellent publicity to a condition that the public know nothing about.

It's hard to diagnose somebody unless you have six to eight years of medical training, and access to his/her medical and legal notes. Symptoms and behaviour can overlap across more than one illness. I wish her a safe recovery.

[icu_baby]

Hi Paine Dance, I know, I was merely speculating thats all :)